Learn vs Catch

Before I turned 12, I was always told that I am a slow learner. Back in the 1990s, my Primary school still had streaming and I was put into the middle zone.

I thought I did well for my 2nd streaming exam at age 12, but turns out I was still placed into the same middle zone.

Only at age 15 did I managed to "upgrade" into a fast learner and thereafter, I shined. Secretly, I contemplated that my learning has to do with my looks... but that is a story for another day.

....I guess I am still a slow learner? I don't know why, I just feel like... I am a slow learner at the start of everything. I see my peers absorb, react & subscribe to anything at almost twice of my speed! I remember fighting to sit at the front desk of every lesson, and then slowly.... mentally I zone out.

But it is only in my 30s that I realised - Yes, I am a slow learner. But I Catch Things Fast. While I observed that most of my juniors, contemporaries & even seniors are quick learners but they almost never catch the gist of what they are learning. Especially for music. Specifically for piano. It's like having a wealth of knowledge, experience & connections but they don't belong to you because you don't know how to use them. And even if you know how to use them, you are not using them appropriately.

Would you be able to understand what I mean? If you can't, it means you also cannot catch... probably you would be wondering what does catching even means... 

Well, catching is a natural sense of 抓 the music. You just know what to listen to, how to practice, how many times to practice, practice what, when to change the piano etc. Catching has nothing to do with your speed of learning or your intelligence level. Wealth & connections play no role in speeding up your sense of catching.

The ability to catch the music is a talent. I know I have it. And I think it's because I'm a female.

What about you? Can you catch?